The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-02

upon my doing so Twas whisky wanted
and | wanted it mighty quick, too. l went
out and the three little devils followed, one
at each of my shoulders and the third i'm
medlately behind me,
1.-THE office in which was employed was
located on Fourth street, just below Wal
nut, part of the city as dark and deserted
at that time and at that hour of the night
between u and o'clock} as in the dry
goods or leather district of New York.
was wholly unacquainted with the neigh
borhood, of course, and hadn't the faintest
idea where to look for saloon, but | was
rapidly approaching the conviction that
must find one soon or go crazy. The devils
were close upon my heels, and / fancied
| could see flashes of heat radiating
from them and scorching my flesh
Closer and closer they pressed me as |
walked hurriedly up Fourth street to Syca-
more, where, not finding a ba,room open,
/ stopped and retraced my steps, intending
to try Fourth street in the opposite direction
from Walnut AS | returned to Walnut
street neutrality-suspicious. twas the devils
-impelled me to look down the incline
toward the river, and, although had done
so when crossed that street to go up, with
out seeing light, did so again, and to my
unbounded delight saw red lamp, dim,
to be sure, but still to me unmistakable
evidence that had found what / was in
quest Of
II fairly ran TO the place, and found it to
be low grOggery of the ordinary type:
but that discovery didn't discourage me. 1t
wasn't quality I wanted but quantity. |
stepped down two steps, opened the door,
and went in. The devils went in too A
descent of two steps more brought me to
the floor, and half dozen PAGES rapidly
taken brought me to the bar, which was
directly opposite the door and facing it. The
room was a large one and dimly lighted,
and opening out of it was another room, I'M
lighted, reached by walking down two steps
corresponding in their distance of descent
with the incline of the street toward the
river. These latter details | subsequently
learned from the papers, but mention them
as thought had taken them in with my eye
at the same time in order to show my posi-
tion, and for the same purpose | will add
that heavy and very dirty tapestry cur
tain hung in the doorway between the two
rooms and was half drawn.
AS ! went in | observed that the room
had but two occupants-the bartender and
a man facing him, with the counter between
them. Both We're talking loudly, but was
so intent upon getting drink that l scarce
ly needed what they said. walked over to
the bar and called for some whisky, but
neither man paid the slightest attention to
me, nor appeared to notice that any one
had entered the room.
II was then aware that the two were
quarreling violently, and hesitated mo-
ment before repeating my demand. just as
was about to do so, however, tho bartender
raised his left hand, which until then had
apparently been hanging by his side, and in
it was an old-fashioned horse pistol. With
the utmost deliberation he pointed it so that
the muZ1le of the weapon was not more than
five or six inches from the other mans face
and fired. The man, who had been partly
leaning against the counter, swayed for an
instant and fell to the floor dead, the whole
of his lower jaw having been blown away,
and that much l saw before he fell
For a moment was stunned, but the ne
cessity of getting out of the place as quickly
as possible overshadowed all other thoughts
in my mind. The report of the pistol in
that low -ceilinged room sounded like salvo
of artillery and the same power that impels
a drowning man to clutch at a straw made
it wildly apparent to me that if | would
escape from that place unobserved no time
must be lost. Accordingly, made rush
for the door, and with one bound was in
the street. The devils didn't go out with me.
Hastily glancing up and down the street,
and seeing no one, Iran like deer to the cor
ner of Fourth street, and in another minute
was at my desk, but the quality and guam
tity of my work for the remainder of the
night were not such as to Justify my enl-
ployers in availing themselves of my SER
vices thereafter.
1.-THE next mornings papers contained ac-
counts of the murder, scrupulously accurate
as to description of the scene of the tragedy,
but lamentably wanting in circunstantiality
of detail as to the occurrence, and conveying
to me the startling intelligence that man
was seen running out of the saloon after the
shot was fired; that the police were after
him and would no doubt have him in
custody before night, and that unqueStion-
ably he was the man who did the killing, as
no weapon was found on the person of the
bartender or in the saloon. Who had seen
me leave the placei Who might have been
behind the curtain in the dark room and
carefully photographed my features upon
his memory as / stood in the Light
at was not until then that became really
frightened. There | was in strange town,
without means of leaving it except in
manner calculated to excite suspicion and
constructively accused of murder A terri
BILE situation for man to be in, truly, and
all because had allowed myself to get into
such condition of mental and physical
ruin that | must have rum, good or bad, but
rum anyhow.
Although my nerves were very much
shattered and my general condition, aside
from my feeling of dread lest | should be
arrested, no better than it was when the
devils and | walked out of the office the
night before, the craving for liquor | had
then felt had vanished, and mentally do
clared my intention of forever abstalning
from the use of intoxicants thereafter This
sort of inward preaching didn't seem to pre-
sent any way of getting me out of my diff
Guilty, however, and the more | thought of
the scTape | was in the worse it appeared,
and the only way out of it seemed to be In
getting out of town.
1.-THE accomplishment of that much-de-
sired object without money seemed little
less problematical to me than the acquisi-
ton of the required sum, but lost no time
in formulating a scheme involving an ex-
cursion in any direction that would place
Cincinnati behind me, and started out to
put 1t in practice. After visiting the vari-
oxs railroad stations and steamboat wharves,
| succeeded late in the afternoon in striking
up an acquaintance with steamboat clerk
to whom told q straight story, if not
true one, and he agreed to take me
to Louisville that evening. He did SO,
and as the boat left the wharf a
newsboy's cries reached my ears with
startling distinctness, The police on the
track Of the murderer The police may
have run down the devils that deserted me
In such cowardly fashion that night, but
they never got the man who was seen run
ming out Of the saloon in Walnut street, nor
has that man ever since touched q drop of
liquor.
IF you, my misunderstanding friend,
think it as easy as falling off the Brooklyn